


On the Script

by MerlinFicDriveThru



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 05:23:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4907095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerlinFicDriveThru/pseuds/MerlinFicDriveThru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Merthur, modern au. "Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this."</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Script

Arthur took a deep breath of “beach” air, getting himself ready for the moment.

He recited his role in his head.

Go in, smile as wide as possible, kiss the pretty woman’s forehead, hold her in his arms. Look like he’s having the most fun he’s ever had in his life.

Wait until the music ends.

Right.

He nodded, smiling at the tall blond woman. She was a bit scary looking actually. Had he met a Morgause before? She flashed him a bit of a predatory smile. This was going to be harder than he’d thought.

Someone turned on the big fan, blowing fake sand across the scene. The paper in the back, lovely as it was, rippled a bit. He tried to put all the little irritations out of his mind and focus on his role.

“Morgause, stop looking like you want to skewer Arthur. I know you like to be intimidating, but you’re supposed to be a happy heterosexual couple, so get on it.”

Arthur jerked his head over to the new voice.

All thoughts of the role, dull as they were, left his mind entirely.

The man, presumably Morgause’s agent, was beautiful.

He was soft lips and dark curls and long, long eyelashes on high cheekbones. He was pale skin and a wispy frame and long fingers. He was perfect in every conceivable way. Arthur’s jaw may have dropped, maybe. He was almost positive there wasn’t any drool.

“That’s going to be difficult, Merlin, since it doesn’t look like either one of us are straight,” Morgause said with a smirk that made Arthur’s insides curdle.

Merlin turned bright red and waved her off, but he did smile a bit at Arthur when he caught him still staring.

“Right, whatever, let’s get this going then.” Arthur turned around with a scowl, red from his neck to the tip of his ears.

The commercial was a disaster. They had the fan too high, so sand was blowing everywhere. They had to weigh the paper down twice because the corners kept flapping up. The water wasn’t moving right. Everything was going wrong.

But even worse was Arthur. He tripped over his feet the first take, falling on Morgause and getting a face full of fake beach. The next take he was too awkward on the kiss, moving in first for her cheek before trying to switch halfway through to her forehead because that’s where the script said to kiss her. The next take he ended up missing his cue because Merlin was standing in front of the fan fighting with his clipboard.

By the time the fourth take failed, Morgause was done.

“Merlin, get over here.” Morgause waved him over from where he was still chasing down papers.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I want you to run through this take with Artie boy here and see if he can’t figure out what the hell he’s doing.”

Merlin frowned. “Morgause, we’ve talked about this. You can’t just decide you want to—”

“Merlin, he’s dying here. Make him look good.”

Arthur scowled further. “Look, I am perfectly capable of doing this myself.”

Morgause raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. “No, look, really, you’re going to argue with getting to work with  _him_? His name’s Merlin Emrys, and he dropped all his papers in front of the fan when you were struggling to figure out how to kiss my forehead.”

“Morgause!” But Merlin was already moving towards the set. “Look, she’s really impossible when she gets like this. It’s best to just go ahead and appease her.”

“He’s only saying that because he wants to do it.” Morgause didn’t need to sound so gleeful. “Go on then, figure out the scene.”

Arthur managed a shy grin at Merlin, who was already smiling back.

The scene started.

 _Go in._  Merlin managed to look fairly content, walking along the fake beach, like he could smell the salt air and hear the sea. Arthur ran up to him, turning to face him.

 _Smile as wide as possible._ He was grinning and Merlin was laughing, it was ridiculously simple. The whole situation was ridiculous enough to end up in a corny romance.

 _Kiss him._  The script said on the forehead, and he’d almost gone with the cheek for Morgause. But kissing Merlin felt right. It wasn’t a long kiss, or deep. It was simple and sweet and Arthur winked when he was done.

 _Hold him in your arms._  Merlin fit perfectly, easy and just small enough to fill all the space of Arthur’s chest. Arthur’s head fit perfectly in the crook of Merlin’s neck.

Cue music, and the commercial was over.

“We’re using that one. We’ll call it our  _equality_ angle. Everyone’s doing those these days.” The director was mumbling.

Arthur asked Merlin on a date immediately.

Years later, they’d tell their closest friends that they’d met on a  _Totes_ resorts commercial.


End file.
